Prosecutor: Tobyhanna DUI defendant shows up for court drunk

Due in Northampton County Court to face a drunken-driving charge, a 51-year-old woman made matters worse by showing up drunk Thursday, prosecutors said.

When court officials noticed the smell of alcohol coming from Saydel Alicea, she was pulled from the Easton courtroom and given a portable breath test in the hallway that she failed, said Assistant District Attorney William Blake.

When she admitted to a deputy sheriff that she had driven to court, Alicea, who lives about 50 miles away near Tobyhanna, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and taken to Easton Hospital where her blood was drawn, Blake said.

Before Thursday, Alicea was hoping to be admitted into a first-offender program that will now be denied her, Blake said.

And she'll spend at least a night in prison after Judge Anthony Beltrami called her a "danger to the community," revoked her unsecured bail pending a bail hearing Friday, and sent her to Northampton County Prison in handcuffs. He also ordered her to undergo a drug-and-alcohol evaluation.

"I have a concern that she is continuing to drink and drive," Blake said. "I'm also concerned for the safety of the community."

In Alicea's original case, she is charged with having a blood-alcohol level of 0.33 percent -- more than four times the legal limit -- after she was stopped Dec. 22 at Daniels Road and Route 191 in Lower Nazareth Township, according to court records.

Blake said that on Thursday, Alicea's portable breath test came in at 0.15 percent, or nearly twice the legal limit for driving. But new charges against Alicea will not be filed until the results of her blood test are known, Blake said.

To Beltrami, Alicea said she has just gotten a job after being without work and falling behind in her mortgage. The Coolbaugh Township woman denied that she drank Thursday morning before court.